Secretly Involved
by Neowrella
Summary: Ever wondered how the life of a somewhat normal student at Hogwarts would look like? With normal teenage problems and worries? Well, this story pretty much covers all of that and even more. Follow Calista Cornview through her everyday life in the wizarding world while entwining with the mess of the one and only Harry Potter. Staying true to the story but through another perspective
1. Glares And Pendants

!DISCLAIMER!

I do not own Harry Potter or any of the original characters. All of them belong to J.K Rowling, along with the base plot. The only things I perceive as mine are my OCs, my twisted little side-plot and the new title.

**Secretly Involved**

**A Harry Potter Fanfiction**

**Chapter 1**

**Glares And Pendants**

"I will be needing all of your essays on my desk, by monday morning." Said Professor Snape.

Slowly stirring around the thick liquid in my cauldron, I heaved a deep sigh along with the rest of the class. It was late in the afternoon and my rumbling stomach was longing for supper. Our fifth year at Hogwarts had just begun and I was already tired of Potions Class. No figures, with assignments like ours only masochists would find it endurable. None of the other teachers gave us as much homework as Professor Snape. Of course, he usually special treated his own house with a sloppier due-date. That was inside information, but nothing anyone wouldn't already have guessed.

A burning scent ravaged through my nostrils and brought me back to reality just in time to see my brew flood the murky table.

"Callie!" Parvati yelled and yanked her books away from the – still bubbling – mess.

"What are you doing?" Said Lavender with her manicured hands in the air, frowning.

"One might wonder."

I spun around slowly and faced Professor Snape with an apologetic expression. He slightly lifted his wand, gave it a firm turn and cleaned up my mess. Then his dark eyes focused on me again. I quickly turned my guilty gaze to the floor.

"Miss. Cornview. This is the third time you are unsuccessful to fulfil the goal of the lesson. Now, it is clear that I can't teach you anything since you cannot preform the simplest of tasks. 10 points, will be taken from your house, for your serious lack of attention. And yet another 10 if this.." He pointed to a few burnt spots in the wooden surface of our table. ".. doesn't come off."

"But, professor, that was there bef-!" I objected, remembering because I used to sit by the same table every time, and the marks had been there for as long as I could recall.

"_30_ points from Gryffindor, for questioning the teacher." He cut off and drifted back to his desk in front of the class.

_So unfair. I'm not even allowed to open my mouth in this classroom, _I thought as I gritted my teeth. My, what a horrible birthday I was having. Besides being greeted with a cake and lots of presents that morning, everything had been a complete disaster. I had wrecked my favourite shoes, gotten a full detention by Umbridge (just for taking the right side of an argument?) and now loosing house-points for my sloppy behaviour. Fantastic.

Carefully turning my head up, I caught Pansy Parkinson and her repulsive peers in the middle of giggles and whispers. She turned towards me and gave me a smug smile. I am not kidding with the fact that I actually considered killing her then and there. Right on the spot. I knew I wouldn't regret it, but I came to the conclusion that she was not worth going to Azkaban for. Besides, if I were to kill her I would end up killing every student in the Slytherin house. They were all the same, almost. _Few_ exceptions, very few.

On our way to the common room, Demelza brought up the thing I'd been fighting inside my head.

"Argh! I could _kill_ that Pansy!" She said behind her teeth. "Did you see how priggish she looked? It made me want to vomit and strangle her at the same time!"

"Well you and me both. After all, it was me she was smirking at." I said with an annoyed sigh and grabbed a tighter hold of my books.

"Come on, now. We all know how she is. Are you really going to let her ruin the rest of your day?" Hermione uttered herself.

I gave her a I-hate-it-when-you-make-me-feel-like-a-grumpy-chil d look, which basically _is_ the look of a grumpy child. She shot me a dazzling smile and stepped ahead of us to face the Fat Lady.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia."

"I haven't managed to keep this door closed more than a minute today." The Fat Lady complained and sighed. "Oh well, in you go."

As usual, we were all both hungry and tired after Snape's lesson. Since it was a good twenty minutes left to dinner when we checked the clock, everyone laid down on their beds to await it's arrival and rest for a bit (after climbing all of those stairs – no, you don't get used to it).

"So... Dean's looking pretty good this year." Demelza said spontaneously, staring up at the ceiling.

Laughters echoed in the dormitory. Parvati was laughing so hard she had to grab a hold of the bed to not fall off it. Though I was a bit overwhelmed by the choice of subject, I joined in the giggles, half-heartedly.

"What? You can't disagree with me, can you?"

"No, I guess not." I had to admit.

Lavender smiled and nodded with agreement.

"Well, actually, I don't really think he's my type..." Parvati said. "But he looks good."

Hermione sat up on her bed, an amused but considering look on her face.

"Have you developed a type?" She smiled. "Since when?"

"Since I realized that dating someone with whom you have nothing in common with can turn out to be quite dull." Parvati mumbled as she turned around and lay on her stomach. "No matter how good looking they are."

Demelza sat up with raised eyebrows and glanced over at Pav's innocent face.

"Aha. And I have decided I'm gonna stop being sarcastic." She preached and squinted her eyes at the end of her sentence. "You're so full of it, Pav."

"Elle has got a point." Hermione said as a matter of factly. "We know you."

"And we love you for who you are, so don't try to be someone else." I flanked, trying to prevent a conflict between the girls.

"Well, personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with being a bit shallow." Lavender comforted her best friend with a big, superior smile.

"Of course you don't." Demelza grinned and everyone except Lavender, who didn't really seem to get what was so funny, burst out in laughter.

Still giggling, and with Lav glaring daggers at our backs, we made our way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Where are you?" I whispered out in the empty corridor.

The flickering torches on the walls all went out with a fizz. Clearly, it was past bedtime for all students and the curfew had been put up. So I really shouldn't have been out sneaking around the school, and I wouldn't. Normally. But this was, like all other times, an exception.

"Lumos."

The tip of my wand lit up and gave me just enough light to see where I was going.

I had only taken a few steps forward, until someone grabbed my arm, carefully dragged me into a room and closed the door silently. He approached me, threw his arms around my waist and pulled me in.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you." He whispered, with his lips against my neck.

"Likewise" I groaned, smelling his delicious aftershave and finding it hard to speak with the passion I was feeling.

He held me tighter and turned up his head to look at me. We both smiled, and he pushed down on my lips with excitement, building up a heart-stopping kiss. As our lips met, my fingers slid up to the back of his neck and grabbed his short, white-blonde hair. He lifted me up on a bench behind me without breaking the kiss, that became more intense by the minute. Even after being together for about 3 months, he still gave me goose bumps and made my head go fuzzy with his touch.

The kiss eventually ended when I misplaced my hand and missed the edge of the bench by a millimetre. He caught me in my fall and pulled me up on my feet, laughing quietly the entire time. Grabbing my hands and looking deeply into my eyes he said;

"Turn around, birthday girl."

I looked over my shoulder and saw lit candlelights in the corner of my eye. By doing a full body-spin I could see it all. What used to be a classroom now looked like some sort of stage. Almost every bench that usually stood in rows all over the room, was now built up in nice piles against the walls, leaving it as an open space. In the middle of the floor there was a big spread out blanket and on it were two bowls, two glasses and another blanket. In a ring around it stood about twenty candles, casting a yellowy light on everything. Stepping closer I could see the content of the bowls. The bigger one was filled with...

"Strawberries!" I gasped and picked one up. "My favourite! How did you know?"

"You told me one time, when we were having lunch in the garden at my manor. Remember?" He grinned.

"Well, yes but I can't believe you remembered after I had just brought it up once." I said, half smiling with surprise. "You must really listen to me."

He smirked and raised one eyebrow.

"From time to time." He teased and ran a hand through his hair.

We sat down on the blanket and I asked what was in the other one.

"Melted white chocolate."

Seeing my surprised expression he explained himself.

"I overheard you speaking about strawberries at lunch today, and that 'Nothing can top it's flavour, except for the perfect amount of melt chocolate.' So I fixed it." He said.

"Well, there's a good reason as to why I love it. Ever tried?" I asked while dipping my strawberry in the white paste.

When he shook his head I offered him a bite of mine. He grabbed a hold of my hand, stroked my knuckles softly and kissed them, before pulling his mouth up the red fruit. He bit off a large chunk and chewed. I took his smile as a sign of his approval and leaned back into his arms.

"Oh, Draco. It's perfect." I sighed.

"Only the best for the best." He said and kissed my neck.

"_You're_ the best. Managing to pull off something like this when both teachers and Filch is lurking about. Now _that's_ something."

Finishing my sentence, I turned towards him, pushed him down on his back and got on top of him. He stared deeply into my brown eyes with his grey ones, and gave me his most charming smile.

"There is... one more thing." He said, anticipating.

"What?"

He grabbed me by the hips and rolled us over so he was on top. He sat up and dug around in his pocket. Finally founding what he was looking for, he pulled up his cupped hand and dangled a thin silver chain with a small heart pendant above my face. Intrigued, I sat up to study the necklace closer.

"Green for Slytherin, red for Gryffindor." He smirked and watched me as I gave it a closer look.

The little silver heart was graced with lesser emeralds on the edges and a slightly bigger ruby in the middle, glistering in the candlelight. Draco was always spending money on me, and after awhile I had just stopped trying to convince him that I didn't need anything, and just went along. I stretched out my fingers to feel it's beauty and when I held it, it vibrated softly in my hand. A bizarre thought took form in my head and I couldn't stop it from slipping out of me.

"Is it... _pounding_?" I asked, feeling completely ridiculous.

"As long as we're in a 3 metres range of eachother, it will." He whispered with a smile on his lips. "Now, turn around, beautiful."

Handing him the necklace and pulling my long brown hair in front of me, I turned so he could attach the chain around my neck. His hands were warm against my skin as he struggled with the clasp.

"How was it you came by such a delicate and peculiar item?" I wondered.

"Remember when we met up in Diagon alley? Well, after you met my parents and we'd said goodbye and everything, I went gift-shopping for you with my father. He highly recommended this as a perfect birthday present. And I took his word for it." He explained.

"Well, my regards to your father. I love it." I said, and that was the complete truth.

He had really outdone himself this time. I completely adored the amazing, yet simple construction of it.

I smiled, climbed up in his knee and kissed him intensively on the mouth. His hands automatically fell on my hips and I ran my fingers through his hair. Then we were on the floor again, in a heart-racing embrace.

"Wait, what about the food?" I whispered, just as things was getting intimate.

"Fuck it. Let it rot." He grunted to my throat and draught my attention back to what we were doing.

I smirked and didn't argue with him as he tasted my lips again, feeling his sweet peppermint breath. We were way to busy to care about the food. He rolled over and got on top of me.

As the kiss intensified, he started to unbutton my cardigan as I pulled off his shirt, letting my fingers glide over his toned, naked chest. My hands went down and undid his belt and I jerked it off and threw it out of sight.

"Impatient now, are we?" He moaned and smiled.

Coming down to our last pieces of clothing, he retched for the blanket and pulled it over us, he knew how cold I would be otherwise. His lips trailed down to my neck and I put my hands on his scapulas, digging into his skin with my nails as he slid his finger over my entrance.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed in pain, but quickly went back to to the kissing, pulling our bodies tighter together as I granted him access.

Draco was very persistent, as usual. I loved that about him, he was a very considerate lover and kept going until I was satisfied, even if his release came before mine did. His breaths went heavier and faster as he picked up the pace, still kissing me with the same passion and feel as before. I moaned his name out of passion, making him grin with the eyes of a hungry dog, and threw my legs up on his back, locking him in.

About an hour later, breathing heavily, we started finishing off the berries and the chocolate that still tasted as good as it had done before. Draco had his arms around me while we ate, and both of us were wrapped inside the blanket, as he stroke my cheek with his lips. I grinned with satisfaction and leaned closer to him, feeling his heart still pumping like crazy. As I finally peered down on his watch, it showed a quarter past twelve.

"Oh, I have to go if I'm gonna get some sleep until I have to get up again." I sighed and regretfully freed myself from his grip.

As he watched me go around searching for my clothes, he grinned with pleasure and said:

"Hmm, I should have hidden them better." He whispered. "They both approve of you, by the way."

I showed an expression of confusion.

"My parents. They approve of you." He said.

"Yes, but that's because they think I'm a Slytherin." I said, frustrated, while getting dressed. "If they found out you were dating a Gryffindor half-blood, they would probably forbid you to see me."

"Unfortunately, I think you're right. Not that it would matter though, nothing can keep me away from you, not even my parents with their pureblood frenzy." He smirked and gave me a dirty look that made me want to jump into his arms again.

"But is it not a comfort that they like you as a person?" He asked, carefully.

"I guess so." I admitted and half-smiled. "Now come on, get dressed. We have to go."

Even though I preferred him not wearing any clothes at all, _yum_, the stupid situation called for it (oh, how I wished we were back at Malfoy Manor, in his huge bedroom with his king-sized bed...). I reluctantly grabbed his pants and threw them at his handsome silhouette. While I was going around the room blowing out every candle, he pulled out his wand and said a simple packing spell, restoring the classroom to it's usual state.

"Lumos." We called out on the same time.

Our wands lit up and the room instantly got a white-blue colour. He went ahead and lead me to the door. Stepping outside was like being interrupted in a good dream. It felt horrible and instantly brought my mood to the bottom. Draco noticed.

"Hey, what is it?" He asked.

"Nothing,. Just... Well, it's going to be so long until we will have the time to do something like this again, and I'm not ready to go back to reality... But I must. And it's driving me crazy." I said, looking down on the floor.

"Callie, it's going to be okay." He said, pulling my chin up with a long finger. "We will still see eachother a few minutes tomorrow night."

"Yes. We will, won't we?"

I smiled and fingered on my delicate necklace, still dazzled by it's beauty. I threw my arms around his neck for a goodnight's kiss.

"Thank you. For everything. You really made my day." I whispered, while standing there, leaning my forehead against his.

"Well, it's not everyday you turn fifteen." He chuckled. "Love you babe, now get to bed and have dirty dreams about me." He grinned, breathing hot air to my face.

I playfully slapped his chest, let go of him and walked away down the hall. I watched the tip of his wand disappear around the corner.

On my way back to the Gryffindor tower, I couldn't stop smiling. I was absolutely thrilled over the best birthday in years. So, I had a very hard time being sneaky and quiet. Walking up to the Fat Lady, however, turned out to be anything but quiet since she was deeply asleep and snoring like a mad wolf. Waking her would not be a simple task, but I started out nicely.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." I said in a loud whisper.

She just turned on the other side, not paying any attention at all. Why did we have a portrait as a gatekeeper? I would like to see the teachers deal with her. She's almost always asleep and if she's not sleeping, she's singing. She. Can't. Sing.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia!" I almost yelled, sending out sparks at her with my wand.

"Oh, can't you let a poor woman sleep? What are you doing out here anyway? You should be in bed!" She said firmly.

"Well, let me in then, so I can go to my dorm." I whispered.

"Yes, all right!"

The portrait swung open and I climbed inside. The common room was dark and empty of students and the fire had been put out. Stumbling up the stairs with heavy, sleepy steps, I opened the door to our dormitory as silently as I could, but, it's an old door, so it squeaked. Very loudly, and Lavender woke up and turned around.

"Wha... You're not... What are you doing?" She said sleepy.

"I went to the loo." I lied.

Hopefully, she was too tired to realise that I was completely dressed.

"Oh, okay mama. I won't spill on your table cloth."

Stupid. I should remember by now that Lavender always talks in her sleep. Why am I still responding after four years?

I sat down on my bed, kicked my shoes off, removed my robe's and got under the covers. I fell asleep almost immediately out of exhaustion. It had been a long day, and I looked forward to the coming of a new one. _Being back at Hogwarts has never felt better, _I thought to myself as I drifted away to the sound of Parvati's loud snores.

AN: Like I said, this story intertwines with the main story by J.K Rowling, just showing an alternate view of it, from another students perspective.


	2. Severe Changes

**Chapter 2**

**Severe Changes**

At breakfast the following morning, I was extremely tired. I had to struggle to keep my eyes open, and had no apatite what so ever.

Lavender was having a low conversation with Seamus. Once again she was taunting him about his view on Harry.

"Seamus, there is no other explanation. Did Cedric Diggory just die then? Perhaps the dementors were just out on a walk and happened to find Harry?" She said.

"Me mum says that that's a load o' rubbish. There wasn't any real proof that the dementors were actually there. And sure, Cedric is dead but it could have been an accident. No one knows what actually happened that night either."

"'My mum says'. Don't you have any opinions yourself?"

She continued to defend Harry, but Seamus had made up his mind. I really didn't know why he was behaving like that. Almost everyone seemed to be under the impression that Harry was either mad or lying. He had never lied to anyone before, why would he start now? Well, I believed him, given the fact that he was sticking to his story no matter what. That doesn't sound like the qualities of a liar to me, and I knew he wasn't a lunatic. Besides, Dumbledore supported him, and he wasn't daft. No matter what anyone said.

I tilted my head up a bit to get a better view of them. My eyes fell directly on Demelza, who was watching me with an uncomprehending look.

"What did you _do_ last night?" She asked.

My gaze went past her shoulder and locked on Draco, who was, judging by the looks of his hand gestures, discussing new quidditch tactics with Blaize.

"Helloo?" Demelza waved her hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention.

"Oh, sorry. Still sleeping, I guess." I snapped out of it, focused on her again and giggled nervously.

I was just about to answer her when a loud discussion silenced the entire hall. The voices came from outside.

"I am telling you that when it comes to discipline for the students, you ought to stick to the ordinary program!"

Professor McGonagall's voice draught everyones attention and we headed for the door to get a better view.

"It sounds as though you are questioning my teaching in my own classroom, Minerva." Said Professor Umbridge, where she stood at the top of the stairs.

"Not at all, Dolores. Only your medieval methods."

"I'm sorry, but to question my methods is to question the Ministry and by that the minister himself. Now, I am a tolerant woman, but the one thing I will not stand for is disloyalty." Umbridge said, sounding very offended.

"Disloyalty." Said McGonagall with distaste and stepped down a notch.

Umbridge turned to all of us and started speaking.

"Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared. Cornelius would want to take immediate action."

I looked at my friends. They all seemed to be as tense and confused as I was. I met Hermione's gaze which only said one thing; "This is bad."

"Callie? Where did you get that necklace? I've never seen it on you before." Parvati asked at the end of Transfiguration.

"Ehm, I got it yesterday. It was a gift from my mum." I lied.

I hadn't told anyone of them about my secret relationship with Draco. If they found out, the rumours would spread about how wrong it was, and about how stupid I were to think that there was anything good inside a Slytherin. On top of that, Draco's friends would abandon him and he would be seen as a traitor by the rest of his house. I couldn't let that happen.

"Funny. I don't recall seeing you unpack that in The Great Hall." She said. "Oh well."

She shrugged he shoulders and gave the door a harsh push.

"That is a very rare item, Miss Cornview. Are you sure it's from your mother?"

Professor McGonagall was standing by my side, eyeing my necklace with interest.

"So it said on the note, professor. Why?"

"Well, from what I've heard, it is only given from one partner to another, as a symbol of deep and endless love. On the necklace lies a spell; whenever your in a special amount of distance to the gift giver, the heart will start pounding. It's beautiful magic, but not something a mother usually gives her daughter." She said, seeming utterly confused.

"But now she did." I said nervously, eager to drop the subject. "Goodbye, professor."

I piloted Parvati out of the classroom with haste. Avoiding eye contact with her, I headed towards the stairs.

"Wonder what that was all about." She asked puzzled, following me down the corridor.

I didn't answer. I had no idea what to say, so instead I tried to focus on my steps.

We went up a staircase and just as we got on the last one, it jumped and moved away from the ledge that we should have gotten off on. It stopped by another ledge a few metres away. _Great,_ I thought and sat down in the middle of the stairs. Sure, there were plenty of other ways leading to the Great Hall, but this one was the fastest. And frankly, I didn't have the energy to move much right now.

I rested my head in my hands and took a few deep breaths.

"Well, unless you are willing to go around everything, I guess we will just have to wait until the staircase moves again." Parvati sighed, and sat down opposite me. "In the meantime, perhaps you could explain to me what happened back there?".

"I lost my patience, that's all. I told her that my mum gave it to me, but she pressed on. So I got annoyed with her and just wanted to get out of there." I said.

"You sounded more nervous than annoyed to me."

She gave me a penetrating look and made me feel guilty for lying. Damn, she was good at this! She saw right through me.

"We all know something is up with you." She said. "Ever since the beginning of the semester you've been happier and full of laughter but constantly tired. And you keep disappearing all the time, and now this."

She gestured towards my necklace.

"I think that's enough proof for me to say that _you_... are seeing someone. The one thing I just don't get is; Why haven't you told us? Why haven't you told Elle? She's supposed to be your best friend."

No point of denying it anymore. I had no idea what I was going to say if I would try.

"I know. I was just afraid of what you would think of me." I said with defeat.

"Oh, Callie. We wouldn't think bad of you for having a boyfriend, silly. Only for not sharing the juicy details!" She giggled, wiggling her eyebrows.

I made an attempt to smile, but failed thanks to my guilt. I felt so bad for telling her. I had made a promise to Draco that we would never tell anyone. But, right now, my fingers were just crossed for that she wouldn't ask...

"So, who is it? What's his name?" She asked. "Or her name."

"Ehm,. eh. It's... It's M..." I started, but was, thankfully, interrupted.

"Pav! What are you doing up there?" Padma called from the ledge to the Great Hall.

"We're just waiting for this one to move again, since we didn't want to go around." Parvati said, and turned towards her twin sister.

"Oh," Padma said, creasing her forehead. "Well, you'd better hurry or you'll miss out on lunch."

"Will do."

Just as Padma turned and went around the corner, the staircase jumped into movement again and stopped at our destination. We hurried down the steps and Parvati whispered in my ear:

"Tell me later."

When I saw Padma again, I swore I would hug the life out of her. I couldn't thank her enough for getting me out of that tricky situation. Actually, I couldn't thank her at all, that would be suspicious.

When we walked up to the Great Hall, Filch was standing on a ladder, nailing a framed wooden board to the wall. We stopped in curiosity, as many of the other students had done. When he finished, he came down the ladder, took his tools with him and with a grumpy mumble of students being "in his way" he walked away. Everyone went closer to the board to read the message on it.

Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed High Inquisitor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Was this some kind of joke? That toad was actually going to have the last word in almost everything now? I couldn't imagine how this could get any worse.

Angry grumbling began lashing all around us and I looked at Parvati who was still staring at the announcement, clearly finding it hard to believe.

Demelza and Lavender came out from the hall, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione. They fought their way through the crowd and joined us in front of the board. Lavender was the first one to open her mouth.

"This is outrageous!" She said.

"She completely destroyed our DADA-lessons and now she's almost head of the school? I don't believe it!" Said Demelza.

"Ar-are you Calista?"

I turned around and a nervous little Hufflepuff student stood behind me. _Probably a first-year_, I thought.

"Yes?" I said, confused.

"Professor Umbridge has asked me to inform you that you have the next hour off, so you could come to her detention right away." He said and ran off.

"_What_? That's not allowed!" Said Hermione. "She can't cancel your whole lesson just for a detention!"

"Actually, I can."

Umbridge was standing by the moving staircases and smiled repulsively.

"Come along, Miss Cornview." She said.

_As if_. I stared at her with a defiant glance.

"Or we could just draw some house-points. It's up to you." She smiled.

"But, I haven't had lunch yet..!" I exclaimed, worried about my rumbling stomach.

"Just go with her, Callie. It'll just get worse the longer you wait." Harry whispered with a look of compassion.

Well he would know, he had detention with her yesterday. I wondered what she would have me to do.

I sighed, but went along, constantly glaring at her back, hoping she would fall and break a leg... or two. Draco would be proud of me "thinking like a Slytherin", as he put it every time I had a bad thought.

We arrived at her office a few minutes later, where she had prepared a little table and a chair for me. I sat down by it and waited for further instructions.

"You are going to do some lines for me today, Miss Cornview." She said and put a bit of parchment on my table.

I reached down for my bag and started searching for my quill.

"No, not with your quill. We're going to be using a rather special one of mine."

She pulled out a drawer in her desk and picked up an orange feathered quill with a metal handle. Handing it to me, she waited expectantly.

"You haven't given me any ink." I said and glared at her smiling face.

"Oh, you won't need any ink."

"Well, What do you want me to write then?"

"How about 'I must not support lies'?" She said.

I sighed. Aware of what I've been supporting the other day, not only did I find offending that she didn't believe the truth, but now she was trying to make me abandon my beliefs. This woman really knew how to push peoples buttons. She was driving me mad. But since she still was a professor, I swallowed my anger and gently asked:

"How many times?"

"Well, let's say, as many times as it takes for the message to sink in." She said, enigmatically.

I creased my forehead in confusion, shook my head and started writing.

I must not support lies

My hand, that was resting on the bench, started to itch a bit, but it didn't bother me.

I must not support lies

I really felt the need to scratch my hand now, so I did, and then continued writing.

I must not support lies

It started to sting awfully where I had scratched myself. I stretched my hand a bit and tried to shake it off.

I must not s

"AH!" I yelled, dropped the quill and grabbed my hand.

Judging by the pain I felt, my hand could have been on fire. I slowly lifted my fingers from the upside of my left hand. The words "I must not support lies" had been carved into my skin and blood was oozing from the small cuts.

"Yes?" Umbridge asked and looked up from her desk.

I was so angry with her! I wanted to yell and curse her in every way I knew. But what just happened took me by such a surprise that I couldn't utter a word. I just stared at her with a horrified expression on my face.

"That's right, Miss Cornview. You know, deep down, that you deserve to be punished." She said and giggled.

_Spit in her face... Do it! _My thoughts screamed in my head. Instead I took my bag, hauled it up on my shoulder and marched towards the door.

"Have a lovely day." Was the last thing she said before I slammed the door shut behind me.

I went down the small staircase leading up to her office, hurried across our Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom and slammed that one too. Well outside, I leaned against the door, pulled my sleeve up and examined my hand. The wound was still bleeding, but only barely. So this was the "medieval methods" McGonagall had been talking about the other day?

I sighed, tore off a large piece of my white shirt and carefully wrapped it around my hand. Seeing how my sleeves were so long, no one would notice my injury. I straightened out my tattered shirt underneath my robes and began walking down the empty corridor. I still had half an hour left until my next lesson.

Suddenly, my necklace started vibrating softly. I looked down on it, smiled slightly and began searching the corridor with my eyes, softly biting down on my lower lip. I slowly walked forward with small steps, searching every corner.

"There you are."

Draco stepped out from behind a pillar with a charming smile on his face. I rushed into his arms and he embraced me with glee. We backed up behind the pillar again, in case anyone would come walking by.

"When's your next lesson?" I asked after giving him a quick peck.

"In ten minutes, unfortunately." He sighed with a small pout.

"Oh. Well, it doesn't matter. You're here now." I said and smiled.

He nodded slightly, pinned me to the wall and reached in for a heart-stopping, passionate kiss that made my knees faint.

"I think I'll go visit Honeydukes tomorrow." Lavender said, where she sat in her bed. "Anyone wanna come?"

"Oh, yes, of course! I had to go to Hogsmeade anyway to pick up a birthday-present for my mum." Said Parvati, who was engaged in braiding her hair while walking back and forth in our dorm.

"Ihlghowwhighwhheoog." Gurgled Demelza from the bathroom.

"Huh?"

None of us got what she was trying to say.

"Ishaggthaahtaihlghowwhighwhheoog." She gurgled again.

"We can't understand you, silly." I said and laughed. "Try clearing your mouth and speak up."

She spat in the sink, rinsed her mouth with some water and then spoke her sentence for the third time.

"I said: I'll go with you." She sighed, washed off her toothbrush and put it in the cup by the tap.

"Fantastic." Lavender said with a smile. "Callie?"

She turned to me expectantly, waiting for my reply. I wasn't sure what to say. I was going to hang out with Draco tomorrow and on sunday I hoped I could catch up with my homework. But I hadn't visited Hogsmeade with my friends once since the semester started. I felt like it was my obligation to comply with them.

"Well, why not?" I eventually answered.

Draco had to understand. He had friends too, right? And he couldn't be spending much time with them, given the fact that he always had time to see me.

"Great!" She said. "Do you think Hermione would like to come?"

"Yeah, but where is she?" Parvati asked.

"Well, when I walked in, she was sitting in the common room with Harry and Ron, listening to the radio." I said. "Don't know why, though. The radio is as full of shit as _The Daily Prophet_ is these days..."

Hermione opened the door and stepped inside.

"Well well well. Speak of the devil." Said Demelza.

"Sorry. I didn't realize it was so late." She smiled and heaved a sigh.

Demelza shut the door behind her and went off to bed. Hermione went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and Lavender brought up our arrangement.

"So anyway, we were just talking about going to Hogsmeade tomorrow. You want to come?" She asked.

Hermione froze with her toothbrush halfway to her mouth.

"Oh, ehm. I was.. actually gonna ask you the very same thing." She said and witnessed our confused expressions and creased foreheads. "Well, I was thinking a bit about how ridiculous this past couple of weeks have been, with this new toad in charge of our most educating subject. I want to learn how to defend myself from what's happening out there. And I know things are changing, I can _feel_ it. You all believe Harry don't you?" She asked.

We all nodded immobilized, intrigued of her little speech.

"Well, I thought it would be a good thing, since he obviously knows more about this stuff than anyone of us do, if he taught us all a bit about it."

"So, you mean like.. lessons?" Parvati wondered.

"More like an association. An association of practical learning." She said.

"Huh."

I felt rejoiced. Finally something useful with wand waiving and spell-casting. I was beginning to consider wether or not to leave my wand in the dorm before going to DADA-lessons.

"Anyway, the point is: I was gonna set up an information meeting about two o' clock in the Hogshead."

"Why the Hogshead?" Demelza asked.

"I think we need some place off. Where people won't just come by." She said mysteriously. "Since we are breaking her new rules, it would be best if she didn't find out."

I didn't even have to consider it.

"I'm in." I said.

"I'll be there." Said Lavender.

"Well, we'll have time after the meeting to go shopping, so yeah, I'll come to." Parvati said. "I'll tell my sister."

"Count me in!" Said Demelza.

Hermione smiled at her success of persuading us.

"Tell everyone who believes Harry and who you trust." She started planning. "Parvati, while inviting your sister you could tell Cho and Luna at the same time. I'm sure they'll be up for it."

"Will do." She said, yawned and laid her head on her pillow.

Hermione started brushing her teeth and the rest of us got in bed.

No matter how tired I felt, I couldn't fall asleep. I was way too excited about the next day. How would we do it? Where would we practise? What were we going to learn? Who would join us? With Umbridge, it almost felt appealing to break school rules, since she was writing them herself and they all were stupid.

On our way from dinner earlier that day, we'd passed the wall where the news board was, and to our surprise found three other boards there.

All students organizations, societies, teams, groups, and clubs are henceforth disbanded. An organization, society, team, group, and club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No student organization, society, team, group, and club may exist without knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group, and club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The second one was even worse.

The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions, and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions, and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members.

The last one wasn't really a rule, more like an exhortation.

Students who wish to join the Inquisitorial Squad for extra credit can sign up at the High Inquisitor's (Professor Umbridge's) office.

All of these messages were now buzzing around in my head, keeping me awake. Who would want to support such a horrible human being? It boggled my mind. I definitely needed another opinion on this, so I lifted myself up on my elbows and whispered loudly to Hermione.

"What kind of people joins the IS?"

Hermione looked at me, turned the lights out and stepped out of the bathroom.

"Well, a whole lot of Slytherins, I guess." She said and crawled up on my bed. "But honestly, I don't think they are doing it for the extra credit. They just want to bust someone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sighed.

"By the way, how was detention?"

"Torture. _Literally_."

She shook her head slowly.

"I just can't believe that she hasn't been arrested for such methods. This ought to be illegal somewhere."

"How did you...?" I started.

"Harry. He was in detention with her yesterday." She said. "Although, he was very reluctant to show me his hand when I first caught a glimpse of it. May I see yours?"

"Go ahead." I said and held out my left hand.

She unravelled the tattered piece of linen from it and eyed it closely, following my little cuts with her fingers, carefully.

"How does it feel now?" She asked. "Does it still hurt?"

"No." I shook my head. "It was just temporary."

"It's gonna scar, you know."

I sighed, pulled back my hand and stroke my wounds slowly.

"We're gonna put an end to this nonsense, won't we?" I smiled.

"First and formally, we need to learn about some defensive , spells in general since we're not learning anything like that right now. I don't know where this is going to end up, but I'm afraid that it's gonna have to get a whole lot worse in order for it to get better." She said, looking definite.

I chuckled once.

"I thought you'd say that."

She gave me a half-smile then went off to bed.

"Goodnight." I called out in a loud whisper.

I got a muffled 'night as an answer, guessing that Hermione had probably buried her head in her pillow.

AN: And so the crossover begins! :)


	3. Dumbledore's Army

**Chapter 3**

**Dumbledor's Army**

Some loud tappings on the window woke me up the next day. I moaned, turned over and tried to go back to sleep. But as the tappings got louder I eventually gave in. Slowly, I searched the floor with my feet for my slippers, rubbed my eyes and yawned. I stumbled away to the little window by my bed to disrupt the endless noise. My hand grabbed a hold of the little metal handle and I pulled it down and pushed the window open.

A caramel coloured owl with black spots flew into our dorm and almost hit me in the head. It landed on the heating pan in the middle of the room, turned it's head and faced me with a small piece of folded parchment in it's beak. I approached it with my hand out, trying to grab the note from the owl. It probably got what I wanted, because it immediately dropped the note right into my hand. As I unravelled the parchment, I got all warm inside when I recognized Draco's handwriting on it.

Hello, Angel

I'm so sorry to tell you that I can't see you today. There is too much I have to do; homework, writing to my parents (You know how they can be) and more homework. And for some reason my friends have been all upon me, telling me that I've been ignoring them and such. I guess you are a bigger part of my life than they would want you to be. You will always matter the most, but just to assure my fellow companions that I have not abandoned them, I'll have to spend some time with them. I'm guessing your friends feel quit the same. So again, so sorry, I love you and I'll make it up to you.

With all my heart

D

"This is perfect!" I said and smiled.

Now, I would not have to make excuses to him and feel like a complete idiot. If possible, I think I loved him a bit more now.

I ran to my nightstand, picked up a pice of parchment from my drawer and scribbled down a fast yet believable reply, folded it and gave it to the owl, who quickly flew out the window again.

"You must be _joking_. You're still in your 'jammies'?" Lavender said as she came through the door. "Unbelievable."

"Erhm, yeah." I said, dropping the now folded note on my nightstand and closed the window. "Late night."

I tried to make my facial expression as innocent as possible, worrying sick about getting caught yet again. Thinking of which, Parvati hadn't brought up her discovery since she asked me to "tell her later". I was hoping she might had forgotten it and wasn't just waiting for the right moment.

"Okay..." She said and raised her left eyebrow. "Anyway, We're leaving soon. It's almost two o' clock, so get dressed and do it quickly!"

"Okay, okay!" I said and sighed. "Rushing wouldn't have been necessary if you'd just woke me up before you left the dorm, you know."

I ran around our dormitory, getting ready in haste, while waiting for her explanation.

"We didn't want to wake you, seeing how you were sleeping so peacefully, with a smile on your lips. We thought you were having a beautiful dream of some sort, and we weren't really in a rush by then, so we left you there to go down to breakfast. How would we know you would be sleeping in so late?"

Since she put it in a really nice way, I dropped my frustration, smiled and focused on tying my shoes. I straightened up, grabbed my little handbag and wrapped my Gryffindor-scarf around my neck.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Totally."

And so we went out the door, through the common room and climbed out the portrait hole. We met up with the others by the entrance and under a near constant chatter with giggles and laughters, we began our ten minute walk to Hogsmeade.

When we finally got into the Hogshead, it was quite crowded. I was definitely chocked, I didn't know there were actually that many people we trusted. I seriously doubted, however, that everyone there believed Harry, considering the fact that some of them usually avoided speaking to him if they could.

"Wow. There's a _lot_ of people here." Parvati exclaimed.

"Compared to what we expected, yeah. I wonder if they know why they're here, though." Said Lavender and stared at the confused faces of the students, some of them young enough to be first-years. "'Cuz it sure doesn't look that way to me."

"Well, they at least know where they're going." Demelza stated, standing on her tip-toes watching everyone making their way towards the murky, dark-wooded stairs.

Hermione had picked her place well. Judging by the eyes of the shabby old man behind the counter, this pub was rarely full. Although I had full comprehension to people avoiding this place, I felt bad for him. It probably used to be a quite cozy spot during it's glory days, but now it was just a mess. Most of the chairs were broken and the tables as well, the chandeliers were missing candles, the floorboards were creaking loudly under our feet, a damp, musty smell was hanging in the air and despite from our _little_ herd, there wasn't a living soul present.

We followed the crowd all the way up to the second floor, until it stopped in front of a shut door. Apparently, we were to wait here until the meeting was about to start, but since it was already 2:05 it couldn't be long.

I heaved a sigh, contemplating the heat that was rising in the little pub. Oh, how I wished for snow and winter right now, I loathed sweating like a pig.

"Good, then it's not just me."

Cho Chang, a pleasant Ravenclaw student whom I had gotten to know during my previous semester, had made her way to my side. She was eying the beads of sweat on my forehead and smiled.

"Oh, hi Cho." I said and gave her a quick smile.

"Cho, quick question: Do you know why you are here?" Lavender asked.

"Uhm, well. I was told by Padma that this was some kind of information meeting for those sick of how thing's have been run lately. Why?"

We all turned towards Parvati and Padma, who had found her way to our group, seeking confirmation from the one who started the message.

"That's what I told her." Parvati uttered, looking at her sister. "I thought it pretty much covered everything she needed to know for that moment."

Suddenly, the door to the little room Hermione had borrowed for this occasion, opened with a creak and Ron stuck out his head. Silence fell over the room as we all watched his read head move sideways, back and forth.

"Uhm,.. right." He said after a while, then closed the door again.

The sound of furniture being dragged across the room reached us and sighs appeared in the crowd. I turned towards my friends and they were all staring impatiently on the door in front of us, waiting for the meeting to begin.

I backed up to lean against the reel behind us, but as soon as I shifted a bit of my weight on it, the rusty nails gave in and it bent backwards with a short whining. My heart jumped and I stopped myself just in time from a serious injury. I took a deep breath, shaking my head at my own stupidity and carelessness. This was an old house, things were bound to be old inside as well.

"You ought to be a bit more careful around here. That would have been a godawful fall and you would've highly probable broken your neck or your arms."

I watched her pale face with a creased forehead and a disconcerted look. Her white-blonde hair oozed out in waves under her knitted hat, the radishes dangled from her earlobes and her "spectra glasses" peeked out from the inside pocket of her vest.

"It's nice to see you too, Loon..eh, Luna." I said, correcting myself from that repulsive nickname. Although she was weird, I just considered her a bit... special.

"I do think it's thoughtful of Hermione to let us in on her plan. I'm sure she already knows all about this, considering her big interest in books of any kind." She said dreamy. "But I mostly never touch a book that's older than a few decades. The old ones are always full of nargals."

She got an absentminded look upon her face and smiled a bit.

I honestly didn't know how to answer that, so I stared down at the floor trying to think of something that could make me more at ease. Luckily, the door opened again and Ron waved us all inside, pulling me out of that awkward conversation, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

In the small room they had set out a bunch of chairs and stools for us, all of them pointed towards the bench by the fireplace at which both Harry and Hermione were sitting, facing us. Ron closed the door and went around to take his place on Harry's right. Hermione started to look nervous and was repeatedly clenching and unclenching her jaw as we took our seats. When the room went quiet, she stood up, cleared her throat and began the meeting.

"Well, you all know why we're here. We need a teacher. And since the Ministry is forbidding us to use magic of any sort, It has forced us to take things into own hands. Now, I know some of you doubt Harry and even Dumbledore, but he's been through a lot. And he knows things. Defensive spells of many sorts which will come in handy..."

"Why?" Interrupted a Hufflepuff boy in our year called Ernie McMillan.

"Why?" Repeated Ron, annoyed. "'Cuz You-Know-Who's back, you tosspot!"

"So he says." Ernie pointed out with a jerk of his head towards Harry.

"So Dumbledore says." Flanked Hermione.

"So Dumbledore says because he says. The real question is; Where's the proof?" Ernie asked with a lot of attitude.

"If Harry could tell us more about how Cedric got killed.." The boy in front of me started, but Harry was loosing his temper.

"I'm _not_ gonna talk about Cedric, so if that's why you're here then you might as well leave!" He roared and got to his feet.

He reached in to whisper something in Hermione's ear.

"Is it true you can produce the Patronus charm?" Luna asked with her high-pitched voice.

Both he and Hermione turned towards us again. Harry didn't speak, so she answered in his place.

"Yes. I've seen it."

"Blimey, Harry!" Dean called out beside me. "Didn't know you could do that!"

"And he fought off the basilisk, in our second year, with the sword in Dumbledore's office!" Neville said, suddenly remembering.

"In our third year he fought off at least a hundred dementors." Ron added.

"And last year he really _did_ face You-Know-Who in the flesh." Hermione ended.

Harry sighed.

"Look, it all sounds great when you put it like that, but most of it was just luck! And I almost always had help.."

"He's just being modest." Hermione explained.

"No, I'm not!" Harry protested. "It's just,.. When you're out there and are minutes away from being killed... or watching a friend die before your eyes.. You don't know what that's like."

His eyes filled up with misery and he sat down again, looking out the big windows.

"No Harry, we don't." Hermione said slowly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "That's why we need you to prepare us if we ever have to face something like that."

I felt more sure of this now then I had felt when I woke up in the morning. Not that I ever wanted to experience any of that, but I was determined to seeing this training through.

"Look, if you want some knowledge, training and a chance to use magic then sign this list." Hermione waved a sleek piece of parchment. "I must warn you, though. We are breaking school rules now and anyone who's not up for that may leave at any time."

People seemed to be unbothered by her statement and were rushing up towards them to sign up.

I slowly rose up from my seat to get in line behind Dean and Luna, only to be followed by Lavender, Demelza, Padma and Parvati.

"You would think Hermione would've put us on the list already, given the fact that we listened to pretty much every detail last night." Demelza said and sighed, watching the long line ahead.

"Agreed." We crowned and slowly nodded our heads.

As we finally reached the table at the end of the room, I smiled at Hermione that was glowing with joy over the successful meeting. I put one hand down and quickly read the headline of the parchment.

"Dumbledore's Army." I stated and looked up at them. "Nice one."

"Thanks." Hermione said and smirked. "Not too corny, is it?"

I chuckled and pulled back a strand of hair that had fallen into my eyesight.

"No." I said and signed the list. "It's perfect."

"Any progress?" I asked Hermione for the fourth time that day.

It had been three days since our meeting at the Hogshead, and we still hadn't found a spot to start practicing. With the knowledge that a place was all we needed, it made it more unbearable then usual to suppress the need for physical magic, and my mind wasn't thinking clear enough to come up with reasonable suggestions. My wand hadn't left my pocket since Professor Umbridge became High Inquisitor, and I often got the urge to jinx someone just for the chance to practice magic.

"Callie, it has been an hour since you last asked me and I've been with you the entire time. How could I possibly have made any progress without you knowing about it?" She said and watched me with a sleepy look. "I really love that you are so excited about this, but if you want results faster, you'll have to participate. Suggestions?"

I tried hard to think of a roomy, off place where no one would find us. My eyes landed on the little heart around my neck that I started rubbing with my thumb, trying to come up with something that wouldn't sound completely stupid.

"How about the Forbidden Forest?" I tried.

Hermione shook her head as she took another piece of her cottage pie.

"Already suggested that one." She mumbled, with a slight smile on her lips.

"And there is no way we're going in there." Cleared Ron, sitting across from Hermione, followed by Harrys laughter indicating some private joke.

"Hm... What about Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

Ron gave me a look that questioned my sanity.

"Sure, I'd love to have a ghost haunt me every day for the rest of my life." He said, his words dripping with irony.

I sighed.

"Well, then I've got nothing." I said dejected, and poked my roasted chicken with my fork.

We ate in silence for about a minute or two before heavy breathings interrupted us. I turned around to see what the fuzz was all about.

"Guys, I think I've found what we're looking for." Neville said, breathless, trying to whisper.

Harry jumped up from his seat and got to Neville's side. It wasn't long until Hermione copied his actions and Ron rose to go around the long table.

"Take us to it." Harry ordered.

I emptied my goblet in one gulp and followed them out of the Great Hall.

It was only after six flights of stairs that I realised we were going all the way up. My legs began to protest as I dragged myself over the last step to the seventh floor corridor.

"Bloody hell, Neville! You could have... mentioned... the long way before... we went off. We just ate." Ron panted, leaning against the sturdy, marble reel.

"Sorry, there was no time." He said and went around the corner with Harry in the lead.

Hermione rubbed her ribs and tried to breathe normally as we went after them, slowly. We had just ran up seven flights of stairs, any human being would be exhausted. It didn't seem to affect Harry though. I guessed he was to excited to care.

As we followed them around the corner, the first thing that appeared in front of our eyes was a large, sturdy wooden door. Odd, It had never been there before... Or maybe I had just been really tired every time I'd passed it. But it seemed more likely to be the first, since everyone else reacted the same way.

"That wasn't there before, was it?" Ron asked, sheepishly.

Neville was already halfway through the door and held it up for us.

Putting away all my thoughts about how incredible magic that was, I entered the room after Hermione. And as Neville let the door shut behind us, we all watched the spacey room with amazement. It was like it was built for our purpose only; a big room with a high ceiling and pillars along the sides. Across from us was a wide fireplace where a small fire crackled homey. The walls were covered with mottled mirrors and on the stone floor lay a large rug imprinted with the Hogwarts crest.

"Congratulations, Neville." Hermione uttered. "You found the Room of Requirement."

"The what?" Harry asked.

"The Room of Requirement is a hidden place at Hogwarts, and will only appear when a person is in need of something. It will then present itself to the person, with the required items." Hermione explained, sounding like she was quoting a book she knew by heart.

"So,.. Assuming you really needed to use the bathroom...?" Ron started.

"Charming, Ronald." She said and creased her forehead. "But yes, that how it works."

Harry took a few steps into the room, spun around and said:

"This is perfect. It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back." He smiled.

AN: I know, I know... I'm following the movies in stead of the books – shame on me. But I really was WAY too eager to start this story to reread the books all over again! Besides, this way even the people who hasn't read the books will understand everything! :)


	4. Unreachable

**Chapter 4**

**Unreachable**

"_Levicorpus!_"

I heaved a frustrated sigh as, yet again, nothing happened. Demelza was still standing there in front of me, the corner of her lip twitching.

"Oh, shut up!" I said and ran my hand through my hair.

"Is it my turn now?" She called out. "Please?"

"Wait! Okay, just wait."

I sat down on a rickety chair nearby and rested my head in my hands. I felt my exhaustion sneak up on me again, and wondered what I was doing wrong. Not once had I ever felt this distracted, unable to focus on one thing at a time.

Draco hadn't sent me a message for a week, nor had I stumbled over him in one of our classes. I couldn't think of a reason to his absence and my confusion probably had a lot to do with my temper those days.

"Callie, what's wrong?"

Demelza put a hand on my shoulder and bent in to whisper in my ear.

"Is it _that_ time already?"

"No, silly." I chuckled. "I'm just... worn out."

"Look, if you wanna leave and lay down for a while, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem." She said and gave a serious tone to her voice.

I watched all the other members of the DA rejoice over their progress and amazing skills and I couldn't help but to feel envy. I knew I was good at magic, always had been, even in young years. And to not manage this one simple spell was just ridiculous.

I got to my feet again, determined to get it right sooner or later, and tried to focus with all of my heart and soul.

"Are you really sure you're all right?" Demelza pressed on.

"Yes. Now get in position, I wanna nail this before midnight."

She sighed and returned to the floor, still eyeing me with a worried glance.

As I pointed my wand at her and pronounced the spell a small glint of hope flamed up inside of me. Didn't last long until it fizzled out, though. A couple of seconds later I realized nothing was going to happen this time either.

"No luck, eh?"

I jumped. Harry was standing by my side with a compassionate look on his face.

"I'm really trying, it just.. wont work." I said dejected.

"You're just waiving your wand too much." He explained and pointed his own wand at Demelza to demonstrate. "It's left and lift."

He gestured and implied me to do the same.

"Left and lift. Remember that and it'll always work." He smiled.

"_Levicorpus!_" I tried again.

Bam! Demelza was dangling up side-down from her ankles, her curly black hair slightly touching the floor. At the sight of her I gasped and smiled; that was the results I was looking for.

Harry put an approving hand on my shoulder and moved on to the next unsuccessful person: Neville. Now before christmas break we were dealing with all the spells we hadn't really grasped the first time, and Neville had needed a whole lot of practise. He had really struggled with his Expelliarmus-spell, and it seemed he still was very insecure.

"Helloo? I'm still hanging here." Demelza said, trying to break free from the spell.

"It'll be over soon enough, stop jabbering." I said. "You knew the effects of the spell when you signed up to do this with me."

"Well, yeah but I never thought I'd have to experience it!"

I gave her a bitter gaze and narrowed my eyes in annoyance.

"At least not today." She corrected herself, her face starting to blossom red. Wether it was from our conversation or the fact that all her blood was running down to her head, I could not say.

"Try it like this." I heard Harry say and turned around to see what he was doing.

He had walked up beside Neville, pulled out his wand, faced Padma and were getting ready to cast the spell.

"_Expelliarmus!_" He said and Padma's wand jerked away from her hand and fell flat on the floor right in front of Harry's feet.

He bent down and picked it up, then turned to Neville again.

"It's a basic spell, which means it doesn't require much focus, just the right hand movements."

Harry walked up to Padma, gave her her wand back, wished them both good luck and proceeded. It was a nice gesture, but I had the feeling that he knew he would have to come back to mend them again. On the other hand, that was pretty much his purpose here; to teach us.

Neville looked nervous as he got in position to try again.

"Relax, Neville. You heard Harry, just fling it away but do it right." Padma said calmly.

He nodded, took a slight breath and held out his wand without shaking. I saw determination in his face as he twirled his casting hand to find the proper turns. Seeming satisfied, he turned up his head, did the turn and fired away the spell.

As he spoke the phrase, I heard Demelza drop to the floor behind me. I looked over at her to reassure myself that she was alright, and I missed the results of Neville's preparations. I turned around again, but it was too late. They just stood there, as though they were petrified. Letting my gaze fall to the floor, I could see why. There, in the middle of them both laid a wand. Padma's wand. On the floor.

A sudden shriek of joy filled the room and then everyone were running up to Neville, smiling at him and patting him on the back.

"Good job, mate!" Dean said and playfully punched his shoulder.

"Congratulations Neville!" Luna said with her high pitched, spacey voice.

"Great work, Neville!" Fred and George crowned.

"I knew you could do it!" Said Padma and gave him a wide smile.

The cheering went on for a while (and even I finally found my way to him and gave him a smile and a pat on the back) before Harry, followed by Ron and Hermione, left the joyful crowd and stepped up on the somewhat elevated ledge to speak to us. They all had to clear their throats pretty loud though, for us to notice and pay attention.

"Well, this concludes our last meeting before the holidays, so we wont meet again until next semester. But well done, everyone!" He said and we all started clapping to their honour.

Our applauses faded out and the DA dissolved to either get their bags or to take off to bed. As they passed through the door they wished our "teachers" a merry christmas.

"Callie, you comin' or what?" Lavender asked as she and Demelza were following Parvati and Padma through the door.

"I'm just gonna get my things, you go ahead." I answered.

She nodded and disappeared out of sight.

I hurried away to the wall, packed down my jacket and scarf and hurled the bag up on my left shoulder. I started to head for the exit, highly hoping to find an owl by my bed with a little letter in it's beak containing Draco's handwriting. Maybe also an excuse for the past few days. No. That was hoping to much, I'm sure he had a reason for all of this.

"Hey, Callie. You look a bit off."

Dean walked up to me and held my pace, eying me with suspicion.

"Oh, hi. Yeah, a few nights without sleep and suddenly I'm the centre of everyones worry." I chuckled.

"Well, it's nice to know someone cares." He smiled.

We went around a corner, walked up to the Fat Lady and gave her the password. The portrait swung open and revealed our common room.

"Ladies first." Dean insisted and made a polite gesture.

"Are you calling me old?" I teased and faked an angry stare.

He seemed surprised, got all nervous and started to stutter.

"N-no!" He said. "I j-just th-thought you w-wanted to..."

"Haha." I giggled. "I'm kidding."

"Oh." He took a deep breath. "Good."

I smiled widely when I climbed through the portrait hole and he followed with a slight grump stare, which made my smile even bigger. His reaction had made me nervous though. Why was he trying so hard not to make me feel bad, and why did he pay me such attention all the sudden? I had noticed him staring at me from across the common room several times, and he always tried to grab a spot next to or near me in the Great Hall. I just hoped my suspicions weren't accurate, Draco being the possessive bastard he was, Dean would probably end up at the hospital wing with a broken nose or something worse if he found out.

Dean followed me all the way to the stairs to the girls' dormitory, if he could have gone farther, he would've. I was thankful he couldn't.

"Well, goodnight." I said, starting to walk up the spiral steps.

"Callie, wait."

I stopped and walked back down a bit.

"Sleep well." He said, picked up my hand and kissed it slowly.

I was so chocked that I didn't even move. He gave me a look filled with glee and turned to go back to his own dorm. _Wow. _I thought. That was really unexpected. So I had been right from the beginning, he was definitely still into me. I hesitated whether or not to tell Draco about this little inconvenience, but since we were leaving for christmas break tomorrow, I felt the point of sending a letter now was just non existing.

I shook my head and walked slowly up to my bed to do some of the packing we had missed out on due to our late meeting with the DA.

"So yeah, I totally mastered the Stupey-spell." Parvati stated as I came through the door.

"There you are! We were just about to head out to look for you, thought you'd gotten lost or something." Demelza said in a voice that lacked a lot of patience. "What took you?"

"I was..." I said and pointed at the door with my thumb over my shoulder. "Just down the stairs, talking to Dean. And he.. kissed my hand."

Some girly giggles appeared in the dorm as they took in what I had said, and then Demelza opened her mouth again.

"So? Aren't you two...you know." She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"What? Ew, no!" I stated quickly, disgusted by the thought of being touched by anyone except for Draco. "Why would you think that?"

"We.. eh.. kinda found your letter.." Lavender mumbled and turned her head down to the floor.

"What?! And you read it?!" I snapped.

Odd, I usually never snapped, and if I did it was never ever towards my friends. But that they would touch my personal things, let alone read them, drove me bloody furious. And extremely nervous at the same time. I wish I could just tell them about everything so they could stop pushing Dean on me.

"Wow, okay! Just take it easy, Callie." Demelza said and held up her hands against me, trying to calm me down.

"No Elle!" I gritted through my teeth. "I will not take it easy until you bugger off! That was personal, which means not meant for you! How could you...?"

My sight went blurry as my eyes filled up with tears and my anger evolved to sorrow. I unclenched my balled up fists and sank down on the floor, leaning against the door.

"Oh, honey." Demelza cried and sat down on the floor as well, holding her arms around me, comforting.

Lavender and Parvati came closer and placed themselves in front of us, stroking my arm and giving me excuses.

"We're sorry, Cal, never meant to upset you like this."Parvati tried.

"Yeah, we didn't mean it." Lavender chimed in.

I knew they had no idea of why they were actually apologizing, and I wasn't going to give them the answer. I knew why I was crying, and it wasn't because of the letter. They had risked our secrete, they would want to know who the person was then, if not Dean. But what if I didn't even have Draco in my life anymore? I mean, what was he thinking, being totally unreachable for a week! I started to think that maybe he wanted to break up with me or something, and that was exactly why I cried. The thought of loosing him.. I just couldn't stand it.

I kept crying until there were no tears left to cry. Then I got up and walked off to my bed, freeing myself from Demelza's arms.

"We have to pack." I said, not louder than a whisper.

"Are you sure you're alright now?" They wanted to know.

I nodded, dragged my trunk out from under my bed and emptied my drawers into it. The girls went off to do some packing of their own. I grabbed my things from the bathroom and shoved them and the rest of my clothes onto the pile building up inside my trunk. With a loud SLAM! that made the others jump and squeak, I shut it and stomped on it hard with my foot for it to close.

I felt their gazes in my neck as I crawled under my sheets in my jammies to go to sleep, the last night in the castle before returning home for christmas. Hermione walked through the door and I closed my eyes quickly so she wouldn't start asking questions about all and nothing.

I released a heavy sigh and drifted off into a deep sleep before anyone of them could say a word.

AN: She is a little sensitive, isn't she? Dean doesn't look half-bad, does he?


	5. Departure

**Chapter 5**

**Departure**

"Come on, hurry! We're gonna miss our carriage if you don't step on it." I called after Lavender as she ran into the bathroom to put on her makeup.

Hermione and I were standing on the threshold, all ready to leave for the train home to London. The rest of our roomies were panicking and throwing everything in their reach down in their trunks, that was overflowing. Well, they just had to suit themselves, being up all night talking about me. At least Hermione could talk and pack at the same time.

"We'll go down to the common room and wait for you there." Hermione said and pulled on my arm.

I sighed and slipped my hands into the pockets of my worn out jeans, following her down the stairs. We went across the half-empty room and joined our luggage that we'd put up against the wall. I slid down the wall and ended up on the floor, leaning my head against the wall.

"So did you have a nice chat last night?" I asked her sourly.

She looked up from the book she'd pulled out to pass the time.

"Well, the girls filled me in on what had happened before I showed up." She said with an innocent look on her face. "We're not talking bad behind you back, if that's what you think."

She put the book down and tried to get eye-contact with me. When I turned my head away and didn't answer, she continued her monologue.

"You've just been so down this past week, and we had kind of gotten used to your bubbly mood, so we know something's up." She whispered, trying not to catch the attention on any of the other Gryffindors, sitting in the room. "And your little eruption yesterday just confirmed our beliefs."

"Well, you read my letter! Maybe I'm being touchy, but that's not how friendship works." I gritted through my teeth.

"You left it out on your nightstand, and we all know how Lavender can be." She said, sincerely. "There's gotta something else."

"I'm just... stressed.."

"No." She interrupted. "You are _not_ stressed out. I know stressed out, and you show none of the symptoms."

True. Hermione like _invented_ stressed out. That was not a very well-thought-out excuse by my part.

I bit my lower lip, thinking of what to say when my eyes fell on Dean, sitting on the other side of the room with Seamus. He noticed my stare and gave me a gentle smile, clearly showing that what happened last night was not a mistake.

I gulped.

"Are you going to answer me or keep on giving me the silent treatment?" Hermione finally asked.

Looking up at her face I could see she was hurt by my silence. I sighed and opened my mouth.

"Okay,.. well, there is this boy that I've been in touch with, but recently he's stopped taking my owls." I whispered, telling a half-truth. "It's like he's ignoring me."

"I suspected there was a boy involved." She smiled. "Maybe he's been busy, with homework, for example. Or he's.. well, stupid."

I chuckled once. If she knew who she was talking about, there would be no anticipations in her voice when she called him an idiot. I didn't blame her, Draco'd treated almost everyone like shit throughout the years. Even me, which was why I played so hard to get when his want for me became visible. Eventually, he apologized half-hearted to me and after a while I gave up. But he was still an arse. We had concluded that he couldn't act totally out of character so his bad behaviour towards others, and me in public, had to continue.

"Yeah, I guess." I said as Lavender, Parvati and Demelza came down the stairs, dragging their heavy trunks behind them.

"Phew!" They panted as they reached us.

"You know, you could have lifted them down with _Wingardium Leviosa_." Hermione giggled by my right.

Parvati got an annoyed expression on her face and sighed, while she whispered:

"Why didn't I think of that?" Under her breath and Demelza chimed in on her statement.

"Are we leaving or what?" Lavender said, clearly mad that all her efforts could had been avoided. "I thought we were in a rush?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows and shook her head slightly, pulling our her wand and cast the levitation spell on her trunk. We mimicked her actions and followed her out of the common room with our levitating luggage in front of us.

Ten minutes later, we reached the entrance hall. The big, wooden door had been put up and outside were a group of students, waiting for a carriage to arrive.

"Good, at least we're not the last ones." Demelza said and started to walk out the door.

Lavender and Parvati joined her and stepped out into the cold winter. I watched them as they got in line behind the rest, parked their trunks in the snow and turned their heads back to me and Hermione.

"You go ahead." She said, jerking her head towards them. "I'm gonna ride with Ron and Harry."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you down at the station then." I said, grabbing my trunk to join the girls.

The cold bit through my clothes in an instant and made me feel like I was wearing nothing but a thin summer dress. It didn't bring me down, though. I loved the snow and christmas was my favourite holiday of the year. I would have looked forward to it more if there weren't other things boggling my mind.

"I-is M-Mione n-n-not c-coming?" Parvati stuttered, her teeth rattling sharply from the cold.

"No, she's gonna wait for Harry and Ron and go with them. Let's grab a carriage, alright?" I talked fast, stroking my arms rapidly with my hands.

The crowd in front of us began to thin out as wagons came and went. At last, it was our turn to climb into one ourselves, after wielding up our luggage at the back of it. Well inside, we crawled up next to eachother to keep the heat in our bodies. It had to be at least 5 degrees out here, if not colder.

"If I had balls, they'd be crumpled up inside my stomach by now." Demelza shivered.

I managed a short laugh before I had to pull my scarf closer around my neck, to cover my mouth and nose.

The tour to the train station was pretty short, _thank Merlin_, and by the time it stopped it was only the tip of my middle finger that felt completely numb. The rest of my body started working as we got off to unload our stuff, passing them on to the staff at the Hogwarts Express. Our massive, red train stood by the platform and breathed nice white smoke, radiating warmth and tranquility.

"Well, so long Hogwarts for the two weeks to come." Lavender said and turned back to look at the school for a second before boarding the train.

Parvati didn't say anything and just rushed on it, eager to breathe normally again.

"So long homework and Potions!" Demelza uttered, rejoiced over the thought, and gave me a wide grin.

"It's not permanent, Elle. It's two weeks." I smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Killjoy." She said and pouted, before turning away to board.

I sighed, still smirking a bit when I followed her and, suddenly, stopped in the door. In the corner of my eye I had seen that well-known white-blonde hair, and as I turned to confirm my anticipation, rage built up inside of me.

There he stood, surrounded by his friends and that Parkingson-slut, not seeming down or anything. I glared at him for about a minute before he found my eyes and I signed for him to meet me behind the station house. I saw him excuse himself from the crowd and go around the back, at the same time as I did.

When he came closer I could see the upset and hurtful expression on his face.

"Callie, I'm so, so sorry." He said in a low voice and tried to embrace me.

"I haven't heard from you in a week, Draco. A _week_!" I whispered and backed away from his arms. "I demand some sort of explanation."

He sighed and slowly started to explain himself.

"I've been sick and because of that, overthrown with homework." He started. "I wanted to write, but Professor Snape kept me under such surveillance that it was practically impossible."

"He wanted to make sure I didn't fall behind in anything." He muttered as he saw my surprised face. "He's a good friend to the family, remember? Probably promised my parents that he'd make sure I did good, or some other shit."

My rage began to cool as I started feeling sorry for him instead.

"I was beginning to think you'd started to avoid me."

"I would never." He said sincerely, pulling me in and gazed deeply into my eyes.

I had missed his voice, his scent and his gorgeously strong arms, now wrapped all around me.

"I knew I'd find you before we headed home. I wanted to give you this to show you how truly sorry I am for making you feel unwanted. Believe me, staying away from you was one of the hardest things I've ever done." He whispered, released me and pulled up a small black box from the inside pocket of his coat.

"Draco, I don't want tokens of apologizes." I said, tiring from the well-known discussion. "I just want you."

"You already have me. You always will." He smiled and kissed me lightly on the forehead as he pushed the little box into my hand, demanding me to take it. "Unless you get really fat." He grinned.

I sighed, gave up and accepted his gift. As I started to pull off the thin, silver strings, he put his hands on mine and interrupted my actions.

"It's also your christmas present, so you'll have to wait. Don't want to be seen as more naughty than you already are." He taunted, wiggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, stuck the box into my pocket and threw a playful punch at his shoulder. He grabbed a hold of my wrist, spun me around and locked me into his arms. Looking up at him over my shoulder, he reached in for a kiss and my heart was racing. His warm breath gave me goose bumps on my neck.

"Callie?!" I heard Demelza call out.

I aborted our kiss abruptly, shook my head and returned to reality.

"Shit!" Draco whispered and let me go.

"We have to go, or we'll miss the train." I sighed, leaned into him and gave him a swift goodbye-kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, angel." He smiled. "With all my heart."

We straightened up, smirked at eachother, then hurried away our separate ways. As I rounded the corner, Demelza appeared before my eyes with a worried face, tapping her foot in impatience.

"What were you doing? The train's about to leave!"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, we have to board, or we'll miss it." I said and walked past her onto it.

She followed, completely flummoxed, and closed the door to the train behind us. As the train got in movement, Demelza tumbled over by surprise. Grabbing a hold of her, I pulled her up to her feet and, steadying her legs, she led me through the corridor all the way to our compartment. When we stepped through the door, everyone heaved a relieved sigh.

"Good, you found her." Parvati smiled. "We'd she drifted off to?"

"She was by the station house." Demelza said and shook her head.

"What? What were you doing there?" Lavender asked in confusion.

Giving the only reasonable explanation of using the loo, and complaining about a headache, their suspicions dropped and they focused their attention elsewhere. I settled myself by the window and rested my head in my hand.

"So, Pav, as I was saying..."

The girls started to discuss something that they'd obviously been chatting about before we appeared, and Demelza joined in. I was too busy in my thoughts to even care about what they said, and stared out over the white landscape, while the snow whirled past our window.


End file.
